Far Away on the Other Side
by Auburn Red
Summary: Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon have been thrust into the future and have united with Inspectors Lee and Carter. But what are they there for and why have their old adversaries, Hu Li and Lord Rathbone allied? Chapter 4, wait no more! :D
1. Chapter 1

Far Away On the Other Side

By Auburn Red

X-Over between Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon/Knights

I do not own these characters. Lee, Carter, Hu Li, Isabella and anyone Rush Hour related belong to New Line. Chon, Roy, Rathbone, and anyone Shanghai Noon or Knights-related belong to Touchstone Pictures. There are references and possible cameos to other characters, and they belong to their original creators. (But to say who they are would spoil the surprise now wouldn't it? :D)

Chapter One: Carried away by a moonlight shadow

New York-

Roy O'Bannon felt like he was hit by a stampede. He tried to open his eyes, but the ache in his head was overpowering. Was he hung over? He certainly felt like it! How much did he have to drink last night? He remembered having the one drink with Chon and the old man. Did he have more and not remember?

He realized the weight of a person lying next to him. Maybe he was with a girl too! He was about to say something seductive and charming when he heard a very familiar and very male voice say "Ai-ya, what a night!"

Roy jumped back in surprise. "You tellin' me," the blond American said confused as his friend, Chon Wang woke up near him looking just as confused as he did. "Chon what did we do last night?"

Chon stared at his friend incredulously. "You mean that you don't remember?"

"Does it involve us and whips and chains?" Roy asked.

"No," Chon answered.

"Then no I don't," Roy replied.

"You don't remember the man and the shop?" Chon asked trying to jog his dazed friend's memory.

Roy tried to think. He remembered the pungent smell of incense and the knick knacks, a couple of which

He broke while entering. He remembered most of all the old man, looking at them with those strange

double eyes.

"I remember the guy," Roy said. "And I remember the drinks." The man offered them a drink. It tasted like fire going down his throat. He felt like he was burning from the inside. Roy writhed on the ground shaking and begging for the pain to stop. He finally collapsed on the ground. "But I can't remember anything else."

"Remember what the man said, to we must encounter the future to face our present," Chon said solemnly.

"Yeah I recall that fortune cookie crap too," Roy recalled.

"What's a fortune cookie?" Chon asked.

"You know a cookie with a piece of paper that has a fortune inside?" Roy said.

Chon doubled over in laughter. "That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard! What do you do with the fortune do you eat it?"

"I don't know," Roy said exasperated. "We have more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" Chon asked.

"Like where are we?" Roy asked motioning around. Chon looked around. The two were no longer in the ornate shop. Instead, they were in a barren empty warehouse. They were surrounded by nothing more than old newspapers and crates that had fallen apart. The mildew smell was overpowering.

"Hey," a voice yelled. "What are you doing here?"

Chon and Roy looked up to see a man in a police officer's uniform point a gun at them. "You two are trespassing."

"We don't want any trouble," Chon said. "But we don't know where we are!"

"Sir, you are in condemned property," the police officer said. "Now get on out of here."

"Sir, you don't understand," Chon began.

"No sir, you don't understand, you are going to get out of here and you are going to leave," the man said.

"Look now," Roy began. "We just said that we don't want any trouble-"

That was as far as he got when the man stuck a gun out at them. "Okay now you're just being a jerk," Roy said. "I'm warning you."

"I asked you two to leave," the man said.

"I warned you," Roy said. The man was about to fire on them but Chon kicked the gun out of his hand. "Roy let's get out of here!" he yelled.

The American and Chinese man ran out of the warehouse into the bright afternoon. They collapsed by a building and barely contained their nervous laughter. "Are we still in New York?" Roy asked.

"I don't know," Chon replied. They were in a crowded street with people walking past them. They were dressed in odd clothing, business suits, blue jeans, and other items. In a daze, Roy was about to walk out onto an oddly paved road when Chon held him back. Several vehicles drove past them. "It looks like that I should have invested in that auto-mobile idea after all," Roy quipped. "Who knew that it would catch on so quickly?"

"This isn't the same New York that we left," Chon said. "Those buildings weren't that tall! Those auto-mobiles weren't there before! How long were we asleep?"

"Chon, look," Roy said. He pointed at a newsstand that they stood next to. He glanced at a newspaper. Over an article about a president named Barack Obama, a story about a war in some place called Iraq, an article about some British Parliament member announcing his engagement, and a picture of a hot girl named, Britney Spears,. Roy glanced at the date: February 17, 2009!

"2009?" Chon exclaimed losing some of that calm. "We are in the future!"

Roy noticed the newsstand owner looking at the two like they were crazy. "First day out of the asylum," he explained, then he pulled Chon away. "How can we be in the future? How did we get here?"

They both shared the same thought. "That old codger sent us here, but why?" Roy asked.

"More importantly, how do we get back?" Chon asked.

I

nspector Lee Han and Detective James Carter walked past the busy Manhattan streets. Carter shook his head for what felt like the hundredth time. They were supposed to be on a case, but Lee told his friend that he wanted to take a detour down this street. "I don't know, Lee," he said. "You and I have only been to New York once to see the Knicks play and you have a hunch that something is going to happen here?"

"It's not just a hunch, Carter," Lee replied. "I told you about my dream."

Carter wanted to contain laughter, but really hoped his buddy wasn't losing it. "A dream, that makes it all better. I can see you explaining that to our bosses. 'Uh, sorry sir, we couldn't follow the Triad, because Lee had a dream that he was naked while giving his valedictorian speech!'"

"Not that kind of dream, Carter," Lee responded testily. "I keep seeing this street and this building. But the odd part is I am watching myself and another man there!"

"That's crazy, you're crazy Lee," Carter said. "It was just a dream. None of it is supposed to make sense."

Lee gasped recognizing the red door, now faded, from his dream. He reached over and opened the door. "Then how come I know where I am going?" he asked as he waved Carter inside.

The place was barren and empty. The African-American detective looked around. "Nothing here, let's go, Lee," he demanded.

"This doesn't look at all like what I saw," Lee said.

"Lee, dreams aren't supposed to make sense. When I was in 7th grade, I dreamt that Janet Jackson and I were making out then she turned into my Mom," the memory gave Carter the shudders and he never looked at his old "Rhythm Nation" CD in the same way again.

Lee wasn't paying attention to his friend's speech. Instead he glanced down and saw an odd stone. He picked it up and looked closely. It had some Chinese characters on it. Though most of it faded, Lee could make out some of the writing.

"A rock," Carter said. "We came here for a rock?"

"It says something," Lee said. "Something about the first stone-"

"-Hey I thought I told you to leave," a voice called. The detectives turned to see a fair-haired man in his earl y '30's dressed in a police officer's uniform.

Lee and Carter looked up. "Look man, we are on your side, "Carter replied. The two men flashed their badges but the police officer seemed unimpressed.

The man continued to point a gun at the two detectives. "You two are coming with me," he said testily. He screwed up the last time the guy was in here, he wasn't going to mess up again.

"Somehow I don't think you're really a cop," Carter said. "and we ain't going anywhere with you!"

"Good job," the man replied dropping the New York accent for a British one. "Now you two are coming with me! " He repeated. "Where's your blond friend?"

"My blond friend?" Lee and Carter exchanged confused glances. "That's it," Carter said.

"Leave this to me," Lee replied. The man was about to fire his gun when Lee kicked it out of his hand and kicked him in the face. "Bloody hell," the man said as Lee and Carter left "Second time today!"

Chon and Roy walked down the busy street feeling more and more confused. They walked past busy crowds of people. Occasionally, someone would stop and peer confused at their old-fashioned clothes. A couple of teenagers pointed and laughed. "Now come on! Do I make fun of your stupid outfits?" Roy yelled.

"Roy, hush," Chon said. He knew his friend was just as confused as he was. "Maybe we ought to figure out somewhere to sleep for the night,. Maybe we could sleep under the stars."

"No can do, compadre," Roy said. "It's dangerous to sleep under the stars in New York. Maybe we could sleep in a hotel! I might still have connections."

"In 2009?" Chon asked. "Besides I remember those connections. I don't want to repeat it."

"Hey that was fun," Roy said remembering his days as a gigolo.

"For you," Chon recalled them less fondly.

Because a large flux of people walked up to them, Chon and Roy didn't notice the petite dark-haired woman until she collided with them. "Watch it!" she commanded in Mandarin.

"I'm sorry," Chon said.

"Maybe you ought to look where you are-" Roy said. "Whoa-ho," he said. The woman was small with long silky dark hair. She had a small doll-like face and gave an appearance of fragility, but she stared at the two men with such venom.

It took her a minute but her eyes widened in recognition. "You!" she said and lunged at Chon.

"Again?" Roy asked. Chon fired back at her as the two fought for a few minutes. Chon seemed to have her at a stand –still, but she disappeared into the crowd.

"Who was that?" Chon asked rhetorically.

"Whoever she was, she was hot," Roy joked. "She seemed to recognize you though."

"I don't know why," Chon said. "I've never seen her before in my life."

Julie Tan ran through the crowd, pushing past people. Because of her small size and her ability to blend into the crowd, she was able to evade capture. She flipped on her cell phone and dialed a number "Fifth and Main, over here now!" She commanded. As if by magic, a sleek black limo appeared at the right address. She pulled open the passenger side and jumped in.

"Where to?" her driver and bodyguard, Su Lin asked.

"The Plaza," she answered. Su Lin nodded. Though older than Julie, she recognized the younger woman as her superior. She was good in a fight and was fiercely loyal, precisely what she needed.

She glanced at the briefcase and sighed with relief. Julie had the plans just like they hoped. She couldn't wait to call Neil! Then she glowered at her earlier scene with Inspector Lee. She didn't ask herself why they were dressed so oddly, or who the other man was with him. All she knew that if her adversary was going to fight her, then she would be happy to oblige. She wasn't Julie Tan, businesswoman, in those few minutes with Lee, she was Hu Li, assassin and explosives expert facing down a former enemy. She couldn't believe that she let her guard down. She hoped that it wasn't enough to make Lee recognize her.

Hu Li glanced down at her jade and diamond engagement ring and glanced at her watch. It was 2:30 pm, it would 8:30 in London. She had better call and make a report.

"Su Lin, put up the blind," she said. "I want to speak to my fiancé."

Su Lin obliged as Julie hit speed dial one on her cell.

London, England-

Neil Rathbone walked down the halls of Parliament. An overly long session had finally ended. Most of the other members were tedious fools, but then they always were. He had answered a few reporters' questions which had asked about their recent bill, the stories about his "treasonous ancestor", and about his engagement (not necessarily in that order), but he didn't feel like giving too many pithy phrases so he cut the interview short. He was waiting on a very important call.

"Rathbone," the persistent and not altogether welcome voice of Rathbone's least favorite reporter, Jerry Jennings came up to him. "Can I have a word?"

"No," Rathbone said. "There that's a word."

The red-haired man followed the dark haired MP to his car as he spoke. "You know, you're usually more eloquent than that."

"Not for you, Jennings," Rathbone said.

"Suppose, you give me an exclusive," Jennings prompted.

"Suppose, I don't," Rathbone asked walking away. Damn, why hasn't she called yet? He glanced at his watch! Almost 8:30! It was early afternoon there. She should have made the exchange by now.

"Suppose I give you some interesting facts about your fiancée," Jennings replied.

Rathbone turned to face him. "I have a meeting to go to and as interesting as this conversation is, I have no wish to pursue it, so if you have something about Miss Tan, I suggest you wait to give it to me."

"Tomorrow then," Jennings said. Rathbone waved him off with a yeah whatever manner. He pushed the button to unlock his sports car and stepped in. He no sooner revved up the engine when his ring tone started playing "Paint it Black" This had better be good, he thought! He glanced at the caller I.D. :Tan, Julie. He answered it satisfied. "Did you get them?" He asked.

"Yes," Julie responded breathlessly. "I broke in to the building and got the plans, and got out!'

"Wonderful," Rathbone replied. "They won't know what hit them."

"Precisely," Hu Li answered. It was fun having a fiancé who had the same goals as she did. It made their engagement very interesting.

"Were there any complications?" Rathbone asked. There was a hesitation in Hu Li's voice. "Well what's the matter?" He asked.

"While escaping, I ran into my old enemy, Inspector Lee," she said. "I tried to attack him and ran!"

"What?" Rathbone replied. "Did he recognize you?"

"I don't know," she said.

"He might not have if you hadn't done that," he reminded her. "He thought you were dead! I can't believe you would do something so stupid!"

"I'm sorry, alright," she argued. "Don't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same."

"The chances of me running into any of my former enemies are probably zero," Rathbone replied dryly. "You are alright, of course." Despite the blandness in his voice, there was a small tone of concern which Hu Li caught.

"Of course," she replied just as blandly.

"Was the other man with him?" Rathbone asked. "What was his name-Carter?"

"No," Hu Li said. "This was the odd part. He was with a blond man and they were dressed as cowboys."

Rathbone slammed the brakes on his car as his cell phone lurched forward. Impossible! It couldn't be-could it? "Neil?" Hu Li's voice called through the telephone. "Neil?" With her accent, she pronounced his name like "Neo."

Rathbone warily picked up the phone. "I'm here," he said. "Looks like my chances of running into an old adversary are greater than we thought."

"What do you mean? Hu Li asked.

"I'll explain when I see you," he replied. "Looks like there has been a slight change in plans."

"Do you want me to come to London?" Hu Li asked.

"No," Rathbone said remembering the scene that morning. "My flat has been bugged. I'll fly into New York tomorrow. It is better we regroup there any way. I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow then," Julie agreed.

"You know," Rathbone replied.

"I do," Julie agreed. They left the rest of those phrases purposely unsaid.

Neil Rathbone nee Lord Nelson Rathbone, hung up the phone and pulled the car in reverse back to the hotel that he had been staying in all night since he discovered the bugs. He couldn't believe Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon here! It had been over 100 years since he saw them, what are they doing here? It could be a coincidence he thought-After all, this Lee fellow did resemble him from the photograph that Julie showed him. But he did not believe that coincidence at all. Well he could put those two on their ever growing list of enemies. If O'Bannon and Chon interfered with their plans, well it wouldn't be the first time that he had gone up against them.

Carter and Lee walked down the street when, Carter pulled Lee back. "Lee that dude over there across the street stole something from you."

"Really, Carter what?" Lee asked not sure what his African-American friend was driving at.

"Your face," Carter pointed at the direction and they saw two men dressed as cowboys. One was a blond man with an oddly shaped nose and the other was a Chinese man, who looked exactly like Lee!

"Pi hua!" Lee said in surprise.

"You said it," Carter agreed. "Now we know what you're dream was about."

Chon looked up at the street sign, when Roy pulled him back. "5th Avenue, Roy! I remember it from our time, it has grown so big!"

"Chon," Roy told him, but Chon continued gabbing about the scenery. Taking matters into his own hands, Roy moved Chon's head to look across the street. "Chon, look!"

Chon felt a shock go through him! Two men across the street were watching them. The taller black man was looking at them with surprise and suspicion while the other man looked just as stunned as Chon felt! He was Chinese and had the exact same build, height, and features that Chon had! In fact Chon felt like he was staring at his own reflection!

"Sheng di," Chon said in surprise. "They must be why we are here!"

A man looked outside his office window. The phone call made him jump. "Shannon, are they there?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, I ran into Lee and Carter," the cop said. "And the other gentlemen earlier."

"Good, very good," the man said. "Now all our little ducks are in a row."

"And Li and Rathbone, sir?" he asked. "Should I have interfered with that?"

"No, don't worry. Let them go as far as they need to," he said. "They will do the work for us."

Author's Note: "Pi Hua" is roughly translated to "Holy Shit." And "Sheng di" is my God In Mandarin.

BTW, I don't remember what was written on Chon Wang's stone that his father left him. If one of you could be a dear and give it to me, much help would be appreciated. :D


	2. Chapter 2

Far Away on the Other Side

Author's Note: Oh, I did forget that I created Daley, Su Lin, Delvane, Xia, Dr. Brunhaven, and Jerry Jennings. Oh and keep your eyes open for a blink and you'll miss it reference to another series starring one of the actors besides Jackie Chan! :D

Something else I should have mentioned: I have never seen Rush Hour 3, so this doesn't have anything to do with that movie only the first two.

Chapter Two: Perfect by nature, icons of self-indulgence

Chon and Roy approached Lee and Carter as though in a dream. They waited until the four men were face to face, before anyone could say anything. Chon and Lee started at each other wide-eyed as though they were two children meeting Santa Claus for the first time. Roy looked confused and held his friend back. Carter just kind of looked at the other two men suspiciously keeping a bit of a distance.

"You're me!" Lee said surprised.

"And you're me!" Chon said just as amazed. The Chinese men shook each other's hands rapidly.

"I saw you in my dream," Lee exclaimed. "I thought it was me, but it must have been you!"

"Are we related?" Chon asked. "We could be brothers- well related at least!" Chon momentarily forgot where he was, so amazed at seeing his doppelganger.

Carter held up his hands. "Alright, guys chill out," Both Chon and Lee were silenced and looked at the other detective. "My name is Detective Carter, this is Inspector Lee." The two flashed their badges to prove it. "First, off who are you guys and why are you dressed like that?" He pointed at their western clothing. Chon and Roy shook Lee's hand. Chon took Carter's hand. There was a difficult moment between O'Bannon and Carter, but Roy finally shook the African-American's hand. Carter glowered as the blond man casually wiped his hand on his trouser leg.

"Sorry," Roy said. "Roy O'Bannon" He paused as though he expected some reaction. "You know _Roy_ _O'Bannon vs. the Mummy_?'" No reaction. "It's a bestseller!" Still nothing. "They have never heard of me!" He wailed.

"I apologize for my friend," Chon said. "My name is Chon Wang!"

Lee and Carter glanced at each other and Carter snorted with derision. "Like John Wayne, the actor?! Yeah, right."

This time Chon and Roy looked surprised. "There is an actor named John Wayne?" Chon asked.

Lee nodded. "Yes, John Wayne, he did Western movies!"

"Movies, like motion pictures?" Roy asked. "People still watch those?"

"Yes they do," Carter said humoring the two men with the tone of a patronizing schoolteacher to troubled children. "Where are you from?"

"Carter City, Nevada, originally," Chon said. "But we are here-were here, but not in the right time-" Chon hesitated. He realized that this was beginning to sound crazy. "-the wrong year."

"Where exactly," Carter asked. "The local nut house?!"

"Watch yourself boy," Roy warned.

"Ooh a Southern white man called me boy," Carter dared. "Where have I heard that before?"

"That's it -" Roy said approaching Carter when both Lee and Chon held their friend's back.

"Carter, Mr. O'Bannon, enough," Lee said.

"I agree," Chon nodded.

"Alright," Lee said. "You said that you aren't in the right time. What did you mean? What year should it be?"

"1887," Chon said wearily.

"You traveled through time?!" Lee asked.

"Yeah," Roy said. "I know it sounds nuts but- believe me I don't believe it either!"

"How did you get here?" Lee asked.

"It's a long story," Chon said. "And we don't know why, we're just here."

"Alright," Lee reasoned. "Don't worry, we'll help you."

"You will?" Chon asked glad.

"We will?" Carter asked. Roy for once was silent, but he looked just as incredulous as Carter felt. He pulled Lee aside. "Lee, I don't think we should be helping these guys."

"Why not?" Lee asked. "They are obviously lost and confused. He is the man in my dream!"

"Not that dream again, "Carter said.

"You said it yourself," Lee reminded his friend.

"Yeah, I just figured he was maybe your brother, a long-lost cousin maybe," Carter said. "First off, we are on a case. Second, the guy's claiming to be an author and the other guy says his name is John Wayne and they are saying that they are from 1887! Look at them! They are obviously escapees from a mental hospital!"

"I don't think so," Lee said. "What if they are telling the truth?"

"If, if they are telling the truth," Carter said. "And man that is a big 'IF', I still ain't helping them!"

"Why not?" Lee asked.

He pointed at Roy and this time spoke loud enough for him to hear. "Look at him! The way he looked at me, the way he talks to me! If he's right, then his family might have owned slaves!"

"Now that is not true," Roy objected. "The O'Bannons were abolitionists! Well my mama was. My daddy would have kicked the ass of a white boy just as easily as he would a black boy!"

"Right, whatever," Carter said.

"Look I don't want your help, anymore than you want to help us, either of yours" Roy said. "Since we got here, we have been held at gunpoint, attacked, and now you guys think we're nuts! Come on, Chon it's obvious that they aren't going to help us!" He grabbed his friend's arm and was about to walk away. Chon looked reluctant, but followed his friend.

" 'Family is forever my son,' " Lee called out. Chon and Roy turned to face the detective as Lee continued 'I'm glad you cast your own stone.'"

Chon approached the other man. "Where did you hear that?"

Lee held up the stone that he picked up the warehouse. "I think this is yours. You dropped it."

Chon had tears in his eyes as he took the stone from the other man's hand. "Thank you, my father left it to me. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost it."

"You're welcome," Lee answered. "Knowing it's from your father that means a lot to me."

Chon looked at Roy. "Roy-"

Roy held up a hand. Chon didn't have to finish. "Alright" he said. "If you trust them, then I do too."

At the same time, Lee turned to his Carter. He didn't have to say anymore. "Alright, Lee, we'll help these guys. But first they ought to get new clothes cause-" he pointed at their Western clothing "-damn! Even in New York there might be some suspicion. "

"Do you have anywhere to spend the night?" Lee asked. He mentally kicked himself. Of course they didn't. Chon and Roy shook their heads. "We are staying in a hotel. You are welcome to stay there. I could tell them you are my brother or something."

Roy and Chon glanced at each other and shrugged. It was confusing, but what other choice did they have?

London-

Rathbone sat in the hot studio facing the pretty red-haired reporter. Even though his flight was scheduled for later that day, he had been roped into another interview, which he was just finishing up.

"Now Mr. Rathbone," Diana Prescott said with her characteristic Australian accent. "Your recent engagement with Miss Tan has left quite a stir in light of recent Anglo-Chinese trade discussions. In fact, there is some discussion whether this could play into any future votes."

Rahtbone smiled his friendly greeting smile. "Well, Julie tells me that the reason that we got engaged is so she can learn better English so she can argue more with me." Both he and Diana laughed at the joke. "Neither political, nor business reasons went into our engagement. It is true that we were in separate competing businesses and we are discussing mergers, but in these economic times who isn't? Our professional lives do not play in our personal lives. The truth is Miss Tan and I consider ourselves suited for each other in every way. We are both goal oriented, genetically compatible, highly intelligent people."

"Who love each other?" Diana prompted.

"If people like ourselves are capable of that emotion, then yes, we do love each other," Rathbone agreed. He took a sip of water from the mug next to him. "Considering our reputations, both in the boardroom, the political floor, and beyond, I'm sure there are some doubts about that."

Diana smiled. "Which brings me to my next question, your reputation or rather that of your family, has also caused quite a stir. You were raised abroad correct?" Rathbone nodded. "And you come to find out that you are descended from a man who tried to kill Queen Victoria."

"Illegitimately, it turns out, "Rathbone replied. "Though unmarried my ancestor certainly wasn't shy about 'embracing the treasures of Asia', so to speak," That was partly true, Rathbone thought, he wondered if he really did have any missing relations running around. "As many know my grandfather was a history fanatic and had our name changed to honor him."

"Such a strange honor," Diana suggested. "To pay respect to someone who was known in history as a traitor."

Rathbone smiled. "Well time has certainly changed that. I get more people asking if I am related to the man who played Sherlock Holmes."Another laugh.

"And you are not?" Diana asked.

Rathbone shook his head. "If we are it is very distantly. He was descended from a Liverpool family of the same name. They produced a few famous notables, besides Mr. Basil Rathbone, including Timothy Rathbone, a fellow MP. Diana, I will freely admit that my ancestor made quite a few mistakes, trusted the wrong people, and did some very horrible things. However, I do not wish to be held accountable for them. We are different people, and I do not dwell on the past. That is the end of that discussion."

"As it is," Diana said. "We are out of time. Thank you again, Mr. Rathbone , and congratulations on your engagement. Unfortunately, you have broken the hearts of many young Englishwomen who hoped you would remain 'London's Most Eligible Bachelor'."

"I certainly strive to do my best," Rathbone quipped. Diana shook Rathbone's hand as the lights turned off.

"Thank you again Mr. Rathbone," Diana said. "I apologize for this being last minute."

"It's quite alright, Miss Prescott," Rathbone agreed. "Now if you don't mind, I have a flight to catch." He left the reporter behind.

When he was out of the studio, he dialed a number. "Yeah," the Northern English voice of his assistant, Daley called. "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"Did either Delvane or Xia call you?" he asked.

"No, sir," the blond man said. Rathbone could just picture Daley glancing outside in a nervous manner. Despite, the assistant's nerves, he was a good shot and had a very clever deceptive mind that could be counted on. "I think some of them were hanging outside your flat though."

"I thought as much," the MP said. "I am flying out tonight to Singapore probably." He would text the real location to Daley later. "Get a bag you are coming."

"Of course, sir," Daley replied. Rathbone hung up the phone satisfied. He and Julie can proceed with their plans in New York with scant interference, he hoped. He unlocked the car and was about to start it when a voice interrupted him from the passenger seat. "Now how about that exclusive, Rathbone?" the oily voice of Jerry Jennings emerged.

Rathbone was furious. His pale narrow features reddened with rage. "You have exactly 5 seconds to get out of my car, Jennings!" He commanded. The reporter fixed the MP with a thin smile and left the car with a manila folder. "Sneaking into peoples' cars, I thought all of you paparazzi did was hide in the bushes and snap photos," Rathbone said making a "tsk"ing sound with his mouth.

"Only when we have something important to reveal," Jennings said.

"I have a flight--"Rathbone began.

"This won't take long," Jennings replied. "I just thought that you would be interested in the next story that I am planning." Rathbone opened the folder and saw various images of Julie in China. In one photo, she was speaking in a club to another man. In another, she was exchanging money with a couple of other men.

"We have sources that Miss Tan has affiliations with the Chinese mafia, the Triad," Jerry said in a very smooth voice. "In fact, she has been receiving money from them to front her business. Sound interesting?"

"Oh no," Rathbone said in mock surprise. "Whatever shall I do?" His voice returned to normal. "Miss Tan has led an exemplary current life, and has a troubled past. There is no real proof here."

The reporter smiled. He caught the politician like a fish on a hook. "Yes except one of the men in the picture is Xia Lao, a well known Triad member and what is your affiliation with Robert Delvane anyway?" Jennings cited the name of a businessman who had rumors of shady deals.

"Just mere acquaintances," Rathbone replied.

"Maybe, but I'm sure that a few papers would be very interested in your fiancée's affiliation with the Chinese Mafia. Probably find out some things about you as well, disreputable business dealings, consorting with criminals, maybe a political scandal or two and that's just the short list."

Rathbone kept his anger in check. Anyone who worked for him, knew the cool composed Rathbone was more dangerous than the fiery temperamental Rathbone. "You will kill this story," he threatened.

"Apparently, I hit a weak spot," Jenkins said. "Good day Rathbone."

"Jennings," Rathbone said. "This conversation is not over."

"Don't you have a flight to catch?" Jerry taunted.

"Not before, I give you this," Rathbone said. He opened the backseat of his car and pulled out another envelope and handed it over to the reporter. At first the reporter remained impassive, but blanched when he saw the pictures. "Where did you get these?" he asked.

"I got them from an acquaintance of mine, taken at a club called- what was it Babylon, in a place called Canal Street?" Rathbone suggested. He gave a silent thanks to that Irishman who took the pictures. Now he owed him a favor. "In Manchester? Starting to sound familiar?"

"So, I'm bisexual," Jennings replied realizing that he was the one who was caught. "That isn't illegal anymore."

Rathbone smiled a predatory grin at the reporter. "True, but if you are in clubs having encounters with 13-year-old boys, prostitutes no less, then that becomes a problem." Jerry's confident air slipped and he looked petrified. "I also have some lovely pictures here." He showed him another photo. "At least you are getting broad minded -young girls too, admittedly 15, but-"

"I will bury you," Jennings stammered trying to retain some measure of confidence

"Maybe," Rathbone said. "But I'm sure that many of the papers would be interested in these. Now you are not a public figure too, but I think your chances of working in this country might be problematic. I also know your real profession. You are no more a reporter than I am- would it interest Mr. Delvane to know that the 15 year-old is his granddaughter? "

"You are insane," Jenkins sputtered. "You are sick!"

"Maybe, but I am not the one sleeping with children," Rathbone said. "Say what you will of my fiancée, but at least I can take her into a pub without her being carded."

"I will kill the story," the reporter agreed realizing that he had been had.

"Thank you, I appreciate it and I know my fiancée will as well," Rathbone said. "That will be all. Oh and Jer-?" the reporter turned to face the MP "-Don't ever bug my flat again."

Jennings walked away terrified. When he was satisfied the reporter was gone, Rathbone sent a quick text message to Daley: "Sending pics. Give them to every newspaper in the country. Fly to New York. Sending travel info. And give 750,000 in back taxes to the name, Stuart Alan Jones, with thanks. Info inserted. He knows why." Rathbone sent the information to his assistant and jumped back into his car. Today was turning out to be a good day after all.

Jennings waited until the MP drove away. He couldn't believe that he had been taken by that overbearing preening politician! Jennings knew that neither him, nor Julie Tan could be trusted, so he was paid and very handsomely with spying on them. (After all his paparazzi experience proved useful in that field). He didn't know their full story, but there was just something not right about either of them, something artificial, and something that went beyond "crooked business types."

His mobile's irritating ring broke into his thoughts. He looked at the caller I.D. He stammered. Not the person that he wanted to hear from. "Mr. Delvane," he squeaked. "Yes, he is leaving. I heard him say Singapore, but I don't believe him. Of course I will follow him, or I will send someone else to do it." He listened for a few minutes to his employer's rant. "Sir let me explain about your grandaughter-"

Chon, Lee, Carter, and Roy were seated in a hotel room that Lee and Carter were staying in. Chon was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a plain blue sweatshirt. Roy was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a Johnny Cash t-shirt that he saw in a nearby used clothing store. ("It just seemed to fit," he said).

Chon and Roy scarfed down the slices of pizza that Carter had ordered from a local Domino's. "This stuff is great," Roy said. "When we get home, I'm going to serve this to people." Until they had seen the pizza in front of them, neither Chon nor Roy realized how hungry they were from their mysterious trip and being in the presence of two strangers.

"You like this, you should try the food at my favorite restaurant in L.A," Lee said. "The Emperor's Three Servants. It's an old family restaurant." Chon and Roy couldn't contain their laughter. "What?"

Chon shook his head. "It's nothing , long story."

"Private joke," Roy agreed.

Lee and Carter glanced at each other and shook their heads. It was clear that Carter didn't necessarily trust or believe them. He had a feeling that O'Bannon at least felt the same way. He honestly wasn't sure that if it weren't for the dream, that Lee wouldn't believe them either.

Lee pursued the next questions as warily as he could. "So, why did you get here?"

Chon and Roy looked at each other and shrugged. "We don't know," Chon answered truthfully. "It was an accident that we are even here in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Lee asked.

"Well it began when we returned from London-" Chon began.

"What were you doing in London?" Carter asked.

"Rescuing my sister and saving the Queen of England from being assassinated, with the help of Arthur Conan Doyle and Charlie Chaplin," Chon answered.

"This story is getting better," Carter smirked privately wondering what the number for the local mental health clinic was.

"Hey look no one asked you to listen," Roy said.

"No one asked you to talk neither," Carter answered.

"Do we have to separate you two?" Lee warned. Carter and Roy stayed silent, but pouted like sulking children. Lee waved to Chon. "Please continue."

Chon spoke again. "Well at first, it was nothing. While we were in New York, we thought we were being followed. Sometimes these men would come and attack us, but nothing came of it. We never found out who did it. We eventually returned to Nevada and well-"

Roy picked up the story, since this was the part he was more familiar with. "- I was out riding and these guys, there must have been like 20 or 30 of them, but I was able to hold 'em off! They were huge, but they just proved too much for Roy O'Bannon!"

"There were only two of them, and they apprehended him rather easily," Chon said.

"Hey, who's telling the story?" Roy asked. "Well after the _30_ guys jumped me, I woke up in this building. I didn't know where I was."

"The night Roy was kidnapped, I received a vision of an old man speaking to me," Chon said. "He said-

"-The dragons will grow large, you must make them smaller,' Lee quoted. Chon stared at the modern detective in surprise. "I have been having this dream for a long time, a few weeks now. I see the man, is he short with a long white beard?" Chon nodded. "I see the man talking to you, and I suppose Roy. You were in a shop right?"

Chon nodded. "Not at first, you see. I received a message that Roy was in New York. I went over there and freed him, but-"

New York, 1887-

_Roy and Chon ran from their assailants. They were able to elude them, when they were being followed. "They couldn't have vanished," the gray haired man who had held Roy and almost Chon captive commanded. "Find them!" _

_Roy and Chon remained hidden. They had fought off many of their assailants, but there was a lot more of them than there were only the two of them. So, they thought for now it was a good idea to hide. When the noise had died down, Roy stood up. "Come on Chon, let's get out of here," he said. _

"_Why did they call it off so fast?" Chon asked._

"_I don't know, do you think I wanna stick around to find out?" Roy asked. _

_The two of them snuck out the back and hid in an alley. There was a few tense moments as their assailants looked for them out by the street. One of the guards glanced over to the alley. He could see O'Bannon and Chon hiding by the wall. "There they are," he shouted. The other guards turned and chased after their captives. _

"_Quickly, Roy in here," Chon said. He opened the back door to a nearby building as the two fell into a shop. _

"_Ah, you have arrived at last," a warm voice said. The two looked up to see a kind man. "I was beginning to wonder when you three would arrive." _

_Roy looked around. "Uh I know the elderly sometimes can't see, but there are only two of us."_

"_I have better eyes than you believe," the man said. "You don't see the other, yet." Chon felt kind of nervous, because for a minute there, he did feel like he was being watched. He turned around, but saw nothing. _

"_You are the man from my dream," Chon said. _

_The man nodded. "What's your name?" the younger Chinese man asked._

"_It is not yet important," he said. "All you know is what is being decided now. You cannot face these dragons here. They are faced when they are grown larger. "_

"_Are we like knights or somethin' ?" Roy asked still confused._

"_Roy hush," Chon said. "Where do we need to be?"_

_The man smiled that odd smile. His eyes seemed to have two pupils on each eye like he had double vision. They stared into everything making the two men who stood across from them uncomfortable." You must encounter the future to face your present. You carry your own hatred at an enemy. You must face that hatred as he must as well."_

"_Hey I don't hate anybody," Roy said. "Okay maybe my dad a little, and John McGinley in primary school, oh yeah and then there is-"_

"_-I was speaking of the other," the man said. "Will you take this journey? The return may not be what you expect." _

"_Does that mean we ain't going home?" Roy asked._

"_You are and you are not," the man answered._

"_Makes perfect sense," Roy said sarcastically. _

"_I don't know why, but I'm ready," Chon said. His memory of Pei Pei filled him and he hoped that when this was over that he would return to her. _

_Roy looked confused. "Okay, not like I have anything to lose right now. Besides, it's probably no big deal. We'll probably be back soon." _

_The man leaned passed an ornate goblet over to them and handed it to Chon. "Take one sip and then pass it to Roy O'Bannon."_

_Chon obeyed. "Hey," Roy said before he drank. "I don't remember giving you my name." The fair haired man hesitated, but then he swallowed it whole. It tasted like fire as it went down his throat-_

New York, 2009-

"-And that's how it happened," Chon said. "But it still is confusing. We don't know who the people were that attacked us, nor do we know what the man wanted."

"Well I can answer one part of that riddle," Lee replied. "The third man that he saw was me." Carter, Chon, and Roy glanced over at the other man in surprise. Lee continued. "When he spoke about how you didn't see the other man, but he did, in my dream he was looking straight at me. Your story is exactly how my dream went!"

The four men sat in stunned silence as Lee's cell phone ring tone blared Edwin Starr's "War" making them jump in surprise. Lee picked it up and looked at the I.D. : Molina, Isabella. He answered it. "Isabella?" he asked. His girlfriend, Carter mouthed to the other two men.

"I got some news on your favorite businesswoman who is also the source of your latest conspiracy theory," the State department agent called.

"Oh good," Lee said. "Meet Carter and me in our hotel room. We are staying at the Holiday Inn downtown."

"Great," Isabella said glowering over the fact that she would run into Carter. "I'll be there," she said.

"What's going on?" Roy asked.

Carter hesitated at first. What the hell he figured, they haven't harmed anyone yet. "Okay, a couple of years ago, Lee and I were on this case involving this dude and chick who were stealing counterfeit money. Anyway, the pimp was responsible for Lee's daddy's death and I guess the ho' was sort of involved too. The dude died, we saw it and we thought the chick did."

"They never found her body," Lee said. "Anyway a businesswoman appeared a few months later and I think it's possible that she has some link to them."

"What's her name?" Chon asked.

" Tan Jun Li" Lee said. "She Anglicizes it to 'Julie,' and before you ask the man's name was Ricky Tan and the woman's name was Hu Li."

"They have the same last name, " Roy replied. "Maybe she was this Tan guy's widow."

Chon shook his head. "That isn't enough. Tan's a common family name." He turned to Lee who nodded confirming it.

"Plus I knew Ricky Tan," Lee answered. "He never married. She does say that she was his cousin, which is possible. He had a large family."

"How did you know him?" Chon asked.

"He-" Lee hesitated. "He was my father's partner."

"And he killed your father?" Chon asked. Lee nodded. "No wonder you gave me back the stone."

"So what's the scheme with her," Roy asked.

"Nothing she appears to have a good reputation," Lee answered.

"Shocking isn't it?" Carter quipped.

"But I think that there are some ties though not proven and that is what we are trying to figure out," he said.

"Excuse me?" Chon asked. "What does she look like?"

"She's short, dark hair, very pale face-" Lee answered.

"-Totally hot, gorgeous, total fox," Carter agreed.

Lee opened his wallet. "This is a picture of her from a newspaper," he held it out. Chon and Roy took one look at it and their mouths dropped open in surprise.

"Chon it's her!," Roy said. Chon nodded in agreement.

"Who?" Lee asked.

"We ran into this woman on the street," Chon said. "She tried to attack me. She must have thought I was you!"

"Great, just perfect," Carter said sarcastically. "You too are involved now. We're going to have to spend more time together!"

"Ah swell, "Roy said just as sarcastically.

"You may help us," Lee said. "It looks like we will need each other's help."

Julie Tan walked fast through the immaculate building. She was barking orders both to the people around her and through her headset, as her underlings ran to keep up with her. "I want that proposal sent out to Namagato today, not tomorrow! Tell Lex- Corp that unless they contact me then the deal is off! Call Mr. Xanatos, and tell him to reschedule my lunch with him for another day! Where is that piece of paper that I had in my hand a half an hour ago?" An associate put the piece of paper in her hand. "Walker," she called the young woman towards her. "This is yesterday's schedule. Maybe if I ask you for today's schedule tomorrow, maybe then you will give me the right one!" She then turned off her headset. "I want to take a long lunch. Reschedule my board meeting for 4:00 when Mr. Rathbone arrives. Hopefully, I will meet him at the airport. He is just as involved with this as I am."

She left without another word. "Have a nice day, Ms. Tan," Ms. Walker said sarcastically embarrassed by the ribbing she had received in front of her other co-workers.

Hu Li walked out of the office building of Jade Enterprises. Because she had been a long-time member of the Triad even as a teenager, she was used to being passed over because she was a woman. True, she could shoot faster, plan better, and certainly do away with her enemies as well as any man, but she was always considered an underling, an associate. She enjoyed being the person in charge. She and Rathbone had that in common. She called for Su Lin to arrive with the car.

"Where to? " Su Lin asked.

"Haven Pharmaceuticals," the businesswoman replied. "I want you to deliver something to them, but make sure that you are out of the building before it arrives."

"Of course," Su Lin agreed. She was used to her employers' ruthless nature. The two drove until they appeared at the pharmaceutical company. Julie handed Su Lin the envelope. Sometimes she liked doing this type of thing by herself, but others it was always nice to have someone do them for her. Plus she had a job of her own to do. She watched as Su Lin walked into the building and delivered the envelope. Hu Li kept her eyes on the fire escape in case the real source of her pursuits was going to escape through there.

Su Lin ran quickly out of the building tripping into a woman as she ran by. Hu Li mentally tipped off her fingers when a loud explosion rocked through the building. Hu Li opened the passenger seat and glanced around her as Su Lin jumped into the driver's seat. Through the smoke, the former assassin saw just the man she was looking for. "Follow me," she commanded to Su Lin. She ran as the elderly man raced to get away from the fire.

"Brunhaven, are you alright?" Hu Li called in an almost friendly gesture. She gripped the middle aged man in a friendly gesture and led him to the car. Though taller than the Chinese woman, the scientist could feel her sharp grip and the gun that she hid in her coat pointed at his side. "Get in the car," she said through clenched teeth.

She threw the Swiss scientist into the car giving a delight as he screamed in agony being thrown to the passenger seat. Hu Li calmly stepped into the car and sat in the passenger seat. She nodded for Su Lin to drive. She sat next to him, her legs crossed in a provocative fashion through her short skirt. "We did a fine job," the scientist said.

"Indeed," the woman said coolly. "Not good enough." The scientist didn't get a chance to say another word when Hu Li pulled out her gun and shot the man once in the temple. Brunhaven squealed, but his final look was almost one of satisfaction for a punishment he deserved.

"You know what to do with the body," Hu Li said "And get this car cleaned. We can't have blood in it."

"Of course not," Su Lin agreed.

On a British Airways flight heading for New York, Neil glanced at the web link of the news of the explosion at Haven Pharmaceuticals. There were three deaths, and several injuries. Incidentally, the article said, one of the top scientists, Alfred Brunhaven, was reported missing possibly killed in the explosion. Rathbone smiled. "That's my girl," he whispered with pride. He glanced out of the corner of his eye. Two men were seated two seats behind, trying to keep as conspicuous as possible. They were following close behind him, but he had a feeling that they were sent to spy on him. He seethed. He should have known Jennings would try something. He should have shot him when he had the chance! Oh well, he thought, two can play at this game.

He called the flight attendant over to him and asked for a refill on his champagne. "Excuse me miss," he said trying to sound innocent and frightened. "Those two men over there, I think I saw one of them sneak a knife into his bag. I think that they are going to hijack the plane!"

The attendant glanced over to them. "Are you sure sir?" she asked in a Cockney accent.

"Well that's what I saw miss," he said. "I mean it could be nothing but-"

"-Don't worry, sir," she said. "I'll alert the captain and we'll take care of it."

"You are too kind, miss," Rathbone said as the attendant left. The MP then turned his attention to the web link for any further developments.

Lee showed Chon and Roy his laptop. "This is a computer. It's very easy to use once you learn how. You click it on here, and then you can push that symbol there. It's called an icon. This will get you on the Internet. It explores many different sites and you could see things-"

He glanced at Chon, who was already on the Internet during Lee's speech. "I'm sorry; did you want to go on?" He looked at the icon that popped up. "You have mail!"

Lee looked at the computer then at the other man. "I have been looking for those files for days."

"Nice one, professor," Carter joked as Lee's phone rang again.

Lee picked it up. "Lee," he said. Then his face turned in surprise. "Come again?" Roy and Chon glanced at Carter who shrugged. "We'll be right there." Lee hung up the phone. "That was Isabella. There was an explosion at a pharmaceutical company downtown."

"On it," Carter sprang up ready for action.

"What about these two?" Lee asked pointing at Roy and Chon.

Carter turned to the other two men. "Wanna go on a ride-along?"

Roy and Chon didn't wait to be told twice. "Now remember that we are in our time now. We are Michael, you two are Toto."

Carter rolled his eyes. "Lee, if I told you once, I have told you a hundred times, it's Tito not Toto!"

Chon turned to Roy, "Who's Toto or Tito?"

Roy shrugged. "I don't know who's Michael?"

Author's notes: I didn't really mean to imply that Roy is racist or that Carter is, I just figured there might be some buried prejudices that Roy might have been brought up with. And of course coming from different time periods, the two were probably brought up with very different ways of looking at things. Don't worry when this dance is over, those two will be friends. I promise. :D

Thanks again to V.C. Baskermoth for giving me Chon's father's words. I couldn't have done that scene without you.

Diana Prescott, is partly based on a character from the Jackie Chan film, Mr. Nice Guy and Rathbone's story about the "other" Rathbones, is true too. (Originally I was going to have it that Basil's last name was a stage name, but at the last minute, I decided to change it)


	3. Chapter 3

Far Away on the Other Side

Chapter Three: Smooth Criminals

Lee, Chon, Carter, and Roy arrived at the explosion. Rescue workers moved in and out of the area, treating patients. Police officers took statements from witnesses. The men looked at the scene around them. "What did this?" Roy asked. He turned his head as a woman was getting carried by a stretcher.

"A bomb probably," Carter answered.

The blond American nodded. "Yeah, they're starting to use explosives out at the railroads, on people though- The worst I've seen is a machine gun, my God."

"This is bad," Carter assured the man. He could tell Roy was upset, but trying to hide it. "But, it could be worse. 8 years ago, in this city, these terrorists –"

"-There you two are," a woman with a thick Latino accent said. Carter and Roy looked up as Isabella Molina waved at them.

"What happened?" Lee asked.

Isabella looked confused at the other two men with her boyfriend and friend, "Uh, I'm sorry-"

Lee nodded. "Oh, Isabella this is my- um brother Wang."

"Pleasure," Isabella said shaking Chon's hand. "Hey, wait a minute. I thought you told me you were an only child."

"Missing long-lost half- brother, "Lee stammered. Carter stifled a laugh and mentally told himself that he was going to make Lee stop watching soap operas.

Isabella nodded. "And you are-"she motioned to Roy.

"Uh, this is –" Chon began.

" Roy O'Bannon. I work with Wang, here," Roy said. "He's my deputy." Chon glared at his friend but chose not to argue the point.

"Deputy?" Isabella asked.

"Yeah," Chon said. "We work in Nevada, we're police officers there."

"Right," Isabella said not wanting to talk about it in such a dramatic event.

"Anyway, back to your original question," she said. "The explosion occurred about an hour ago. It was in Haven Pharmaceuticals." She pointed at the building. "It was mostly contained in the building, there are three deaths. Anything else, Johnson?" She called a short haired woman over.

Carter's mouth and eyes popped open at seeing his former co-worker. "Johnson!"

Tania Johnson grinned. "Jim? What are you doing here-"

"Long story," Carter replied. "What about you?"

"Well if you paid attention to what goes on in L.A. , you will know that state budget cuts let some of us go," the woman replied somewhat bitterly.

"Sorry, girl," Jim replied. Things hadn't ended well with them, but she was still a good friend.

"I got work here in New York, so I can't complain," she said.

"If we are finished," Molina said.

"Yeah," Johnson answered. Bureaucratic pencil pusher, she wanted to say. "The bomb was contained in the main office. It was small. At first, we thought it was an outside job, but we found this." She showed them a piece of paper. "It was written by one of the scientists, Alfred Brunhaven."

"What about Brunhaven?" a woman asked in a very weary voice.

A woman appeared. "Ms. Tan," Isabella said. "I thought they were through questioning you."

The businesswoman who normally looked very stylish and reserved, now looked shattered. "I was just about finished when I heard you mentioning Brunhaven. What about him?"

"What were you doing here?" Lee asked.

Tan glared at the police officer. "I happened to have had lunch downtown when I heard the explosion. Jade is among the underwriters in Haven. This distresses me greatly."

Isabella hesitated. "Well, it's off the record for now, but you might want to read this."

Julie read the letter and gasped. "This is a suicide note. I know he had problems with his work, but- I would never have believed this of him." Her lower lip trembled.

Lee approached her trying to act sympathetic, but also curious. He wasn't about to let a golden opportunity like this slip. "Ms. Tan, I am very sorry for this tragedy. Do you have anyone to contact?"

Julie shook her head. She acted calm, but inside she faced her adversary like an approaching tiger. "No, my fiancé will arrive from London, shortly. You are Inspector Lee aren't you?"

Lee nodded. "Would it be alright if my partner and I asked you a few questions?"

Julie shook her head. "If you don't mind, I can't now. I must return to the office- could you meet me later?" She gave Lee the address and left.

Su Lin waited until her employer opened the back seat and entered the car. "And the award for Best Actress goes to-" the driver said wryly.

"Drive," Hu Li said wearily. "After you take me to the hotel, pick up my fiancé and Mr. Daley at the airport."

Upstate New York-

Robert Delvane waited in his plush office. The news coming from Manhattan wasn't good. He tapped his fingers as his guest arrived. "I suppose you have heard."

Xia Lao smiled. The elderly Chinese man was a long time friend of the Englishman and he knew that he was just as worried. "Indeed, looks like we have created our own monsters," Xia said.

"They are taking us out one by one you know that," Delvane replied. "I knew giving Rathbone and Hu Li free reign would be a mistake."

"Patience," Xia replied. "We agreed just to see how far they would go. "

"I think we have an idea how far that is," Delvane answered. "I should have never let either of them join the Committee. "

"Will you relax?" Xia said. Sometimes Delvane was too neurotic for his own good. "We aren't the only people who don't like them." He showed him a file. "This is Inspector Lee Han and Detective Jim Carter, they have issues with our woman."

Delvane nodded. "And Rathbone? I can't believe that he has enemies that are still with us."

"Actually," Xia said. "Thanks to some irritating interference we are lucky on that respect as well."

"This I have to hear," Delvane said sarcastically. "So what do you suggest?"

"That we pool our resources so to speak," Xia replied. "We unite our forces against the common enemies."

JFK Airport New York-

Rathbone and Daley emerged from their flight. Daley struggled with his bag, jet lagged from the long flight. Rathbone, however was calm. It always amazed the assistant how quickly his employer recovered from these long trips, but he supposed that he had suffered longer ones in the old days. Behind them, the two men Rathbone saw on the flight followed. They got through security when a guard made an announcement over the loudspeaker. A small group of security guards apprehended the two spies amidst their protests. Rathbone smiled at the ease of his and Daley's escape. _Better luck next time, Jennings_, he thought.

The MP and his assistant walked out towards the transportation parking lot. Rathbone hid his disappointment when he saw Su Lin at the door, instead of Julie. "Mr. Rathbone?" Su Lin said. "Ms. Tan asked me to come for you."

"Is there any trouble?" Rathbone asked making sure that he had his weapons near him if they needed them.

"Let's just say that she was unavoidably detained," Su Lin said. "After you, gentlemen." She led the two men outside.

Daley purposely hung back behind Su Lin. "Umm, Su, I was just wondering if you were busy some night?"

"I'm sorry, John," Su Lin replied. "As I mentioned before, I'm busy then."

"But I haven't said what night," Daley stammered.

"I assure you, John, every night I will be busy," Su Lin said dryly.

"When you two are finished," Rathbone interrupted feeling like a chaperone to two flirting teenagers.

"Have you had any other encounters?" he asked.

"No," Su Lin said. "It is quiet so far." She said as she led the two men to the limo. Daley and Rathbone placed their bags in the trunk.

"Quiet is what I'm afraid of with people like that," Rathbone smirked as he entered the back seat with Daley in the passenger seat next to Su Lin.

Carter and Lee sat in the hotel room as Chon and Roy listened. "So, you know what to do," Lee said.

The older men nodded. "Yes," Chon said. "You told us. Follow you with this-surveillance equipment. If things get bad, we are to notify Ms. Molina. Really, we can help."

"We just want to question the bitch," Carter said. "We don't want to confuse her anymore than we have to. You got the laptop and the stuff. You will be able to spy. We'll call you when we're ready."

Lee and Carter walked off leaving Roy and Chon behind. Chon paced. "I don't like being left like this."

Roy didn't take his eyes off the laptop. "Will you relax, Buddy? Remember what your Dad taught you? You must have patience."

Chon groaned, but he sat back down. Roy had a point. There wasn't much he could do, so there wasn't any sense complaining about it. "What are you looking at?" Chon asked.

"For your information," Roy said. "I find this Inter-net very fascinating. It keeps me up to date in the world. It's important to be an informed citizen."

Chon didn't buy it for a second. "There are naked women aren't there."

"The fact that I am looking at a Web site called "Girls Galore" is just a mere coincidence," Roy said affecting a hurt pose. " Besides, after Carter showed me that and I found out _Roy_ _O'Bannon Vs. The Mummy_ has been out of print since the 1900's, I had to do something to cheer up."

"How upsetting for you," Chon said blandly. He thought for a minute. "Does that tell us about people from the past?"

Roy got the hint. He turned on one of the search engines. "Way ahead of you partner. Who's first?"

"Charlie Chaplin," Chon said.

"That little twerp?" Roy asked but nonetheless he agreed. Sure enough a picture of a man in a small black mustache appeared. "Let's see, born in London, Dad left him, Mom went insane-"

Chon shook his head. "-He told us he was an orphan."

Chon sniffed. "Hey, if your old man took off and your mom was in a nuthouse, you'd probably tell people your folks were dead too. I used to say all kind of things about my dad," He shuddered not wanting to talk anymore about it. "-Anyway went to Hollywood, made several movies. Popular ones include, _The Kid_, partly true story no doubt, _City Lights, Modern Times. _Married four times, all his wives were younger than him- way to go kid! Got kicked out of the U.S. , because they thought he was a Communist. Died of natural causes in 1977, in Switzerland."

"That's sad," Chon remarked. "I can still see him as the boy in my head."

"Yeah I know," Roy replied. "Hey listen to this. He once said, 'That there were many inspirations that led to my career. 'My interest in physical comedy began with two men who shall remain nameless. I saw them fight these people and it looked so brave and at the same time so ridiculous, making the men look ridiculous at the same time. I never forgot that or their kindness, even if I was 'just a kid.' Hey that was us!"

"That is nice," Chon agreed. "How about Arthur Conan Doyle?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that Sherlock Holmes idea really worked," Roy punched some keys and instantly looked sheepish. "My mistake, let's see. He was a doctor, and an inspector, that's interesting. Wrote a character named Sherlock Holmes that used deductive reasoning to solve crimes. Holmes proved to be so popular, that when Doyle killed him off –why-in 1893, he resurrected him three years later. His brother-in-law was also a writer- Hey, I think I remember him once mentioning Willie, a no-good future brother-in-law of his . His first wife, Louise, died in 1906 and his son died in 1918. He became interested in Spiritualism- you know talking with the dead, a lot of mumbo jumbo. He died of a heart attack in 1930."

Chon didn't say anything. "Do you want me to look up anyone else?" Roy asked.

Chon shook his head. If he had a hard time hearing about Chaplin and Artie, how would he feel about hearing who he really wanted to know about? "No, that's alright."

"Come on now," Roy said. "I'm curious. Let's try Lin."

Roy searched for a few minutes, but then saw Lin's picture in a beautiful costume. "She became a dancer. At first, traditional Asian, but was able to break through and be a lead ballerina with an American ballet company. She was one of the first non-whites to be a lead dancer- atta girl. She had an interesting private life a couple of scandalous romances-hey, who were those guys? She eventually married some guy named, Tesho Harada, a Japanese-American artist, and they had three children, two boys and a girl. Her daughter, Ami Harada, had modest success as a silent film actress calling herself, Amy Hari. One of her sons, get this, Wayne became a police officer and the other, Roy, became a mystery writer. – Ah, that's my namesake. Lin died in 1940 after a stroke."

About a hundred different emotions came through as Chon listened to this. His sister married and had children? She was dead, of course she is, Chon thought, but knowing that she should be dead wasn't the same. "The last that we saw her, we were in New York," Chon said.

"I know," Roy said. "I can't believe the last thing I said to her was 'Have a good life.' " Both Roy and Lin had made the decision to end their relationship. Lin wanted to explore the United States on her own for awhile. Both Roy and Wang were reluctant, but the three mutually agreed that it was for the best. "Looks like she did. Want to try for Pei Pei?"

Chon nodded. He was afraid of what Roy would tell him, but at the same time curious about what happened to her.

It took some time, but Roy finally succeeded in finding her in a website of famous people from San Francisco. "Let's see- advocate for Chinese immigrants. Made an enemy of many of the white posh so-and-so's with her activism."

"She would," Chon said with pride.

Roy continued to read. "-She made many friends in the Asian community, like author, Sui Sin Far. You're in luck, man, she never married but had a daughter named Mei- uh-Mei."

"Meiling," Chon corrected feeling very ill at hearing that.

"That's right, "Roy said. "How did you know?"

"It was my mother's name," Chon answered. "She loved that name. She always said that if we ever had a girl that she would name her that."

"Well," Roy said. "Looks like she stole the name." It took a minute, but O'Bannon finally got the meaning of what Chon said. "Oh! Did you know- I mean she could have been her kid with someone else." He looked at Meiling's birth date. "No, born in 1888, that's about right."

Chon shook his head. "No, she didn't say. The week before I left, we reunited and -."

"-This happened," Roy finished.

"I thought I would be back," Chon said. "I told her I would come back. What happened to them?"

"Uh- nothing-"Roy said not wanting to finish.

"Roy," Chon warned.

Roy looked. "Okay, there isn't anything else about Meiling that I can find yet. But, Pei Pei died in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906."

"I should have been with her," Chon said. "I should be there, not here. It's not right."

"I know, "Roy said. "But there isn't anything we can do about it now. We can't change it. It just happened."

"I don't want to find out anymore," Chon said.

"One more person I want to find out about," Roy said. It took almost a half an hour, but Roy found her. "Okay, I think I found Falling Leaves," he said. "A woman with that name was-," Roy's voice caught as he couldn't believe what he was reading" - killed in 1890, in a massacre caused by white soldiers. She was one of the few women who fought. She took some Cavalry soldiers with her." He said that last comment with pride because of his personal hatred for Cavalry soldiers and also pride at the woman who he once knew.

Roy closed the computer. The two sat in silence for a few minutes. The sound of Carter's cell phone playing "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" broke out of their thoughts. Chon picked it up. "Hello?" he asked.

"We're ready," Lee replied.

Chon hesitated for a minute. "Are you alright?" Lee asked.

"We're fine," Chon nodded. "We're ready too. What do you need from us?"

Lee explained the basics of using the surveillance equipment. He wasn't sure how well his look-alike would be able to handle using the equipment, but he trusted him. "Okay, now say something." He tested the communicator.

"Something?" Chon asked.

"Good we can hear you," Lee said motioning to Carter who nodded.

"Best thing in spying," Carter replied. "These devices can't be traced and they are small enough not to be noticed."

"Are you ready?" Lee asked their new friends.

"We're ready," Chon replied. "You?"

"We were born ready," Lee answered. "Now let's get started."

Chon and Roy watched on the laptop as they could see Lee and Carter appear at the hotel room to announce their arrival. While watching the two men, Roy thought of what they had read. "I can't believe that she's gone and I never told her-"

Chon put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's alright, I'm sure Lin understood."

Roy shook his head. "No, that's the weird part. Lin's fine, she had a good life. I'm not upset about her." Chon was about to ask who, when Roy muttered under his breath. "I can't believe that she died at Wounded Knee."

"You said yourself we can't change what happened," Chon said. "Right now let's help Lee and Carter. Then we'll figure out how to get home and you can tell her yourself."

The hotel manager looked at the two police officers with disdain. "Yes, can I help you?"

Lee and Carter flashed their badges. "Yes, I am Inspector Lee and this is Detective Carter," Lee said. "We are here to speak to Miss Julie Tan."

The manager looked at the badges unimpressed. "Aren't you out of your jurisdiction?"

"We're working on a case in this area," Carter said. "Now you could get your lily white ass on the phone and announce us in or we could come here with more cops?"

The manager sighed and called the number. "An Inspectors Lee and Carter are here to see you." He listened for a few minutes. "She will see you now. She is in Room 637."

Lee and Carter walked up the elevator to the room. They walked down the white hallway to Room 637. Lee knocked on the door. "Miss Tan," Lee said.

The door opened. Julie opened the door dressed in a black and red pantsuit that hung tightly to her body. Her hair was tied in a tight ponytail. "Inspector; Detective," she greeted. She looked closely. Did they recognize her? Carter's mouth dropped open at a pretty woman. That wasn't unusual, but Lee was hard to read.

"Yes," Lee said. "We would like to ask you a few questions not just about the explosion."

"Yes," Julie said. "But please make it quick. You will excuse me- the explosion- it's very hard to get out of my mind. First, I would like to apologize for fighting you earlier. I – have been rather excitable, lately. My fiancé and I have been the target of stalkers."

"Your fiancé?" Carter asked. "You mentioned him before."

"Yes," Julie said holding up her right hand. "Neil, he's a Member of the English Parliament. He should be here soon."

Carter looked at her hand. "Wow, what a rock! You're one lucky lady!"

Julie smiled. "I should think it is my fiancé who is the lucky one."

"About your stalker," Lee said returning to the question. "Have you reported it?"

The businesswoman smiled. "If I reported every stalker that Neil or I have ever encountered, that would be all the police would have to investigate. Besides, the fewer people know the better that we like it."

"You mean the fewer reporters know, the better you like it," Lee translated.

"If you insist," Julie said.

"Miss Tan," Lee said. "We came to this city because we are investigating the Triad. Do you know anything about them?"

Tan smiled, her grin was cat-like. "So you assume that because I am a woman and an Asian that I must have had some affiliation with the mafia?"

"No," Lee said. "Believe me, I would never make that assumption." He could see that there was a hidden uncertainty with her. "There have been some witnesses who have seen you speaking to known Triad members and your cousin, Ricky, was a confessed member."

This time Julie's smile was icy. "I know you and your father's history with Ricky. It seems like you won't be satisfied unless we are all accused of the same thing. How long will your bloodlust be satisfied, Lee?"

Carter glanced over at his partner. Sometimes he wondered the same thing, but he felt that he had to defend his friend. "Ms. Tan, do you know a girl named Hu Li?"

"The name 'Hu li' means fox," Julie replied. "It's also a character from Chinese folklore. Why do you ask?"

Lee showed her the woman's picture. The businesswoman looked for a few minutes. "She used to work with Ricky Tan," Lee replied. "She disappeared in an explosion in Las Vegas."

"I think I can guess what happened to her," Tan replied dryly.

"Nothing was confirmed, Madam," Lee said.

"Then I can't help you," Julie replied. "I don't know this woman. I have never met her before in my life."

"They seem to really like each other," Roy said sarcastically watching from their perch.

"He's staring her down," Chon answered. "He doesn't want to give her the advantage."

"Yeah, the old stand-off trick," Roy agreed. The two men watched as someone knocked on the hotel room door.

Julie held up a finger as if to say wait one minute. She listened at the door, "its Neil," a voice called.

"That voice, where have I heard that voice before?" Chon said to Roy. He got his answer as the door opened and a very familiar dark-haired man stepped in.

"Are you alright love?" the man asked. "I heard about the explosion."

"Just fine," Julie said as they kissed. Julie pulled away then held pointed at the two police officers. "Inspector Lee; Detective Carter, this is my fiancé, Neil Rathbone."

From their vantage point, Chon and Roy watched as Rathbone shook the two police officers' hands. "Roy, I can't believe it." Chon's face was equal parts shock and anger. "It's him. Lord Rathbone!"

O'Bannon nodded at seeing their former enemy. "Little Lord Sissy!"

All of the facts about Charlie and Artie are true, except of course Charlie's quote about "the two men" and Artie being an inspector as well as a doctor (It was my best effort to combine the reality of Doyle's life with the Shanghai version. :D)

Wilie, the no-good " brother-in-law"of Artie Doyle is E.W. Hornung (1866-1921). He married Constance Doyle, Arthur's sister in 1893 (a little late in the actual timeline, but I couldn't resist the dig.) :D Hornung wrote the Raffles series, about a cat-burgler, A.J. Raffles and his sidekick Bunny Manders. The two were sort of the criminal versions of Holmes and Watson. (Raffles and Bunny are another favorite couple of characters of mine and I couldn't resist a mention). Doyle and Hornung's relationship was somewhat cordial, but also testy at times.

Pei Pei's friend, Sui Sin Far (1865-1914) AKA Edith Maude Eaton was a half-Chinese author who wrote various novels, like _Mrs. Spring Fragrance_ and _An Autumn Fan_. Her characters often broke the stereotypes that were so prevalent in fiction about Chinese immigrants at the time. I learned about her while reading a book called _Beyond the Gibson Girl_ by Martha Patterson.

The decision to make Roy's true love Falling Leaves was not made by me. I give credit where it's due, to my sister, Starfire, talented fan artist, animal lover, country music fan. Her favorite character in the Shanghai movies is Roy and Owen Wilson is one of her favorite actors, so I gave her the choice over who she thought Roy would have ended up with. She chose Falling Leaves and I agree. (BTW, I was back and forth whether I wanted Falling Leaves to get killed at Wounded Knee, but Roy's line about her just stuck with me. :D)


	4. Chapter 4

Far Away on the Other Side

Chapter Four: Kick Them When They're Down

Author's Note: There is a cameo/reference to a friend/enemy of Rathbone's that belongs to Tim Kring and NBC.

Chon and Roy looked at the laptop not believing what they were seeing. "That is why we are here?" Chon seethed. "For him?"

Roy shook his head and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Okay, calm down. It may not be Lord Rathbone. How would he get here?"

"How did we get here?" Chon reminded him.

Roy nodded. "I know, but John, we just got here. You heard her. This guy's a Member of Parliament. I'm no expert but I think that takes some time to be. It's 2009! He could be descended from him! Who knew that Rathboner even liked girls, but it happens."

"Do you really believe that it's not him?" Chon asked.

"I have an idea," Roy said. He turned on the communicator. "Hey, Carter, if you can hear me, I want you to say this to Rathbone-"

Neil Rathbone and Julie Tan sat across from Lee and Carter, their fingers interlinked. "I understand that Julie has had some problems with stalkers," Rathbone began.

"Yes," Lee said."According to her, neither of you have reported it."

"Julie and I come from similar backgrounds in that we prefer to deal with our own problems in private," the MP said. He unconsciously put his hand on top of his fiancée's'. She put her hand next to his, a gesture not missed by Lee or Carter.

"Congratulations on your engagement, "Carter said. "Gotta date set?"

"Thank you," the couple said in unison. They looked from one to another.

"When our schedules permit," Rathbone answered.

Tan nodded. "Right now, we are looking at sometime in the winter." Her fiancé nodded in agreement.

"You know," Carter said. "I think I heard that name Rathbone before."

"Yes, many people have asked me if I'm related to Basil Rathbone," the MP said. "Actually, I am not."

The African-American detective shook his head. "No, I saw this on _Jeopardy_ once-"Lee glanced at his friend confused "There was a question about a guy named Nelson Rathbone, a cousin of Queen Victoria."

Rathbone rolled his eyes. "Yes, unfortunately he was my great-great grandfather, what of it."

"Well is it true that he was 20th in line for the British throne?" Carter asked innocently.

Rathbone was miffed. Despite his modern wardrobe, his Parliamentary career, he was still Lord Nelson Rathbone at heart. "10th, my ancestor was 10th in line!" He said annoyed,"Little twit!" he thought to himself Another thought occurred to him. He chose not to display it.

From their room, Chon turned to Roy. "Now, are you convinced?"

Roy nodded. "I am now."

"Let me try to talk to Lee," Chon said. He relieved the communicator from Roy. "Lee, I need you to talk to Miss Tan about her fiancée."

"Actually, "Rathbone continued. "If you must know, I'm illegitimately descended from him. I don't qualify as a royal anyway, so the number doesn't really matter."

"How did you two meet?" Lee asked.

The couple looked at each other and smiled in that romantic "how we met" way. Neither Lee, nor Carter nor the two men listening were convinced. "Our parents were old friends," Julie said.

"I was raised all over Asia, Hong Kong mostly," Rathbone began. "My father was a diplomat and he and Julie's father –her father was a businessman- worked together on various projects. She was quite a bit younger than me, but we often attended family outings together. I returned to Europe and we parted ways. Eventually, I got elected to Parliament and was part of a diplomatic mission to Asia."

"I reunited with him at a convention almost a year ago," Julie said. "We reunited and fell in love instantly. "

"Needless to say she wasn't the same little brat that I had left behind," Rathbone quipped. Julie playfully shoved her fiancée on the shoulder.

Lee spoke to the couple. "I would like to speak to Miss Tan alone. I still have trouble with English and my Chinese is better." The inspector leaned over to Julie and spoke to her in Mandarin Chinese. "Miss Tan, I have witnesses who say that your fiancé is a dangerous man."

"Where is your proof?" Julie asked.

"If you are in some kind of trouble with him-"Lee began. Carter had taken out his translator book and tried to follow the conversation. Rathbone listened, but made no comment.

"I assure you that we are very happy," Tan replied. "A minute ago you had accused me of being affiliated with the Triad and now you think that I am the innocent one and it is my fiancé who is dangerous, which is it?"

"Miss Tan, we can help you-"

"- I tell you again that both my fiancé and I are innocent," Julie said.

"I tell you again that I trust these witnesses," Lee continued.

"And I must tell you," Rathbone interrupted also in Mandarin. "That my Chinese is just as good as her English."

Lee stopped talking. Carter shut the book and glanced at his partner with amusement. "Didn't see that one coming did ya?" He asked his partner.

"Inspector Lee," Rathbone began rather testy. "This conversation has gone far enough. My fiancée has had a very trying few days. She answered your questions as did I. Without any real proof you have no reason to still be here, now please let my fiancée rest and please leave."

Both police officers looked at each other and shrugged. "You are right," Lee said. "I can see that we can do nothing more here."

"Yeah, well we're still investigating some stuff," Carter said. "So, if I were either of you, I wouldn't be honeymooning anytime soon- getting kinky in the Bahamas, mon, if you know what I mean? Gonna have to postpone the freaky deaky."

"I don't understand what you meant, but we won't," Rathbone answered dryly.

The police officers left without another word. When they were safely out of the lobby, Lee and Carter spoke to each other. "I don't trust either of them do you?" Lee asked

"So what was all that Knight in Shining Asian Armor stuff, 'your fiancé is a dangerous man?' "Carter asked trying to mimic Lee's accent, but sounding more like a character from a badly dubbed Bruce Lee film.

"Your Chinese is getting better," Lee quipped.

"Come on, man, I've been partners with you for how many years? Give me some credit. You think I'd learned something," Carter replied.

"It's what Chon told me to tell her," Lee said. "I don't know why, he didn't explain the rest. Plus, it might have given her a chance to speak against him."

"Playing one against the other, I like," Carter said, but then he shook his head. "Nah, it won't work! She's his best alibi and he's hers. Did you see the size of that rock? Listen to James Carter's Rules about Women. A guy gives a girl a rock that size, they ain't putting off their wedding until 'their schedules permit' –"He again tried to mimic Rathbone's accent- "-They're getting married soon or not at all."

"They may use their wedding as an excuse to leave town," Lee guessed.

"Right," Carter answered. The sound of Lee's cell phone broke through their discussion. "Lee," Lee said.

"Lee," Chon's voice rang through. "We need to have a serious talk. You'll never believe us."

Rathbone and Hu Li watched Lee and Carter from their window. "Now, are you convinced?" Hu Li asked.

"If I hadn't seen it, I would never have believed it," Rathbone shook his head. "The resemblance is uncanny. Of course stranger things have happened."

"Do we take care of Lee and Carter?" Hu Li asked.

"I don't think that they are the only problems," Rathbone replied. "Did you hear that comment that Carter made?"

"What about you being 20th in line?" Hu Li joked innocently.

Rathbone smirked. "And the reason that we are engaged is-? It's obvious that they met my 'friends' as well. Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"Like you have to ask?" She said. They turned to Su Lin and Daley who up until then had been having a drink in the lobby. "Did you two see Lee and Carter?"

"Yeah," Daley said.

"Follow them," Rathbone replied.

"What will you two do while we- oh, "Daley realized.

"Let's go, John," Su Lin said as she left. Daley followed closely.

Rathbone said. "In the meantime, let's look over what we have." He pulled out a flash drive.

"Where did you get this?" Hu Li asked.

"From a little bird in Manchester," Rathbone replied. He took out his laptop. "And it only cost me 750,000. Still have your plans?"

"Like you have to ask," Hu Li responded. She held out the briefcase. "Alright," she said. "What else do we have on there? Brunhaven, we know."

Rathbone nodded as he put the flash drive into his laptop. "I think we have the information that we need."

He absently took his fiancée's hand and kissed it. "Together?" he asked.

"Of course," Hu Li agreed. "Is there anyone else we need to involve?"

"I know someone who might, might assist us," Rathbone said. "By might, I mean if I threaten him enough."

"You're right, I don't believe it," Carter said. When he and Lee reunited with Chon and Roy and the two older men explained Rathbone's identity. "How can this Rathbone guy be your over 150 year old enemy?"

"But two guys who came from 1887, perfectly believable," Roy reminded him.

"Hey, I'm still working on that one," Carter agreed.

"That's probably why you two were sent here," Lee said desperately.

"I know," Chon said. "Why would I be sent to meet that murderer again?"

"What did he do?" Lee asked.

"Rathbone killed his father," Roy answered.

Lee and Carter exchanged confused glances. "So your father's murderer and a woman who has a connection to my father's murderer are partners?"

"How are they even friends?" Carter asked.

"Judging by that ring, they're a lot more than that, "Roy said.

There was a knock on the door. All four men glanced at each other. Carter held up one finger as he walked to the door. "Hello?" he called through the door looking through the peephole.

"Housekeeping," a voice called. Carter looked through the door at a beautiful Chinese woman standing in front.

"I think we should let her in," he said.

"She's attractive isn't she," Lee guessed. Chon and Roy smirked thinking how much that Lee and Carter reminded them of themselves.

"You got to trust people Lee," Carter said. "What is this world without trust, my Asian brother?" He opened the door and said to the woman. "Please be for me, you hot Chinese Mushu goddess!"

Su Lin smiled wickedly at the compliment. Then, before anyone could say another word she kicked Carter in the face. Lee instantly fought with the woman attacking her.

"Su," a man called. He dove into the attack only to be attacked by Chon.

Daley stood up and fought Chon. Roy punched the man to defend his friend. The four men attacked the newcomers, knocking over a lamp and a table in the cramped hotel room.

"You are all impressive," Daley said, "But I bet none of you are bullet proof." Both he and Su Lin brandished their guns. Lee and Carter aimed theirs as well. Chon and Roy stepped back, Roy wishing that he had brought his six-shooters.

There was a tense moment as all parties held their guns in play. "Hey," a voice yelled through the hallway. A red haired man appeared flanked by several other people behind him. Su Lin aimed her gun at the visitor. He fired at the female bodyguard.

"Su!" Daley yelled. He jumped in front of the bullet and shot at the man succeeding only in shooting one of his guards.

"Come on, they will bring others," the man yelled to Lee, Carter, Chon, and Roy. "Come on!" He yelled when they hesitated.

"What choice do we have?" Chon rhetorically asked. The men followed their rescuer and his entourage out of the hotel.

Su Lin leaned next to Daley. "You stupid ass," she said to the other bodyguard with tears in her eyes." You should never have done that." But she knew that she would never hear the Englishman's response in this world anyway.

Hu Li glanced at their plans while going over some ideas for their next move. Rathbone was arguing on the phone with his former fencing instructor, old friend and more often nemesis, Adam Monroe. The two had been allies for well longer than either of them cared to admit. They knew all kinds of scandals on each other, bickered constantly, and would betray each other in a moment's notice. Oddly enough, that made Adam, Rathbone's best friend and vice versa.

"So, are you going to assist us or not?" Rathbone asked his friend. Adam had been in hiding after a messy entanglement with a former ally of his. Rathbone was one of the few people who knew where he actually was. "What do you mean- I never helped you? Just because I thought that virus idea was a bit far-fetched!" He listened to Adam's voice. "Now wait a minute, who was it who let you stay in his flat during the Blitz? When all of those Germans were looking for you? I think that was me wasn't it?"

"Yes, but who almost betrayed me to said Germans?" Adam wryly asked. Rathbone could picture his blond friend sitting in some hotel somewhere probably drinking some alcoholic beverage.

"I only asked them if there was a reward for your capture," Rathbone said. "They offered good money- I had my eye on a Duisenberg- anyway, that was over 60 years ago! Will you let that go?"

"I'm sorry, Nelson, dear boy," Adam said. Rathbone glowered. He hated it when Adam took that patronizing tone with him. "But I just can't seem to leave right now-"

Rathbone could hear another voice in the background. "You're not alone are you?"

"No," Adam said. "I'm in here with an old friend."

"How old?" Rathbone said wryly. "Most of the women you used to date must be in their 80's or 90's by now."

Adam's voice was tight, "If you must know she's a time traveler, now if you will excuse us."

"A time traveler," Rathbone said sarcastically. "Well that's original! While you are banging your time traveling twinkie, what weapon am I supposed to use against our enemies, sarcasm?"

He could hear Adam's voice getting softer and then he heard the other person's voice yelling in the background. "You tell that twit if I ever see him, I'm going to kick the crap out of him!"

Adam returned to the phone with a sly manner in his voice. "I can't wait for you to meet her."

"I'm not deaf," Rathbone said through clenched teeth. "I heard her."

"Anyway," Adam said. "That's your problem, not mine. Dance on your grave?"

Rathbone rolled his eyes. He knew talking to Adam would be a lost cause. "Not before I dance on yours, Old Man," he said in their familiar sign-off. He hung up the phone and sank down onto the couch.

"Bad day," Hu Li asked dryly. Rathbone didn't respond. Instead, he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Just wonderful," Rathbone replied. "It's you and me then."

Hu Li nodded. She had never met Adam Monroe, but she had a feeling that the man couldn't be trusted.

She then heard the sound of "Time of the Season" on her cell phone. The Chinese woman dropped the plans as she saw Su Lin's name on the I.D. She glanced at her fiancé confused and answered the phone. She spoke in Mandarin to her servant. "Su Lin, what's the matter?" she said. "Calm down and explain it to me." She listened to her normally unflappable bodyguard's hysterics as she tried to interrupt. "Su Lin, calm down or I am going to come over there and slap you, then I am going to fire you!" She listened again, but this time her voice was quieter. "I see. He was very loyal. Well return as soon as you can. What? Alright, we will come for you. We will discuss this later." She hung up the phone.

"What is it 'Lie?" Rathbone asked.

"Su Lin and Daley followed our friends," she said. "They attacked them, but Delvane and Xia's men followed them. They were both shot. She was shot in the leg, but Daley's dead."

Rathbone lowered his head. John Daley had been a loyal servant and in some ways a good friend. "It changes nothing," he said slowly, his voice hoarse. "We must continue on. We had better find out the rest after we get her. We'll do this later. In the meantime, hide all of this." He indicated the plans, the flash drive, and their laptops.

"Of course," Hu Li said.

Roy, Chon, Carter, and Lee sat in the car facing each other. Anytime, any of them wanted to speak the red-haired man sat between them holding his gun on his lap.

"Where are you taking us?" Chon asked.

"That is none of your concern," the man said.

Chon looked closely. The man's hair was a different color, but the face was unmistakable. "I remember you! You were the man who Roy and I met at the warehouse!"

"Then you were the same man who came after us," Lee said pointing at Carter who nodded, confirming it. "Who are you? You can't keep us here!"

"I'm afraid you gentleman have no choice," the man said.

"What are they going to do to us?" Roy asked Carter.

"Well, if they are anything like the guys that kidnapped Lee and me," Carter said, "They will bury us in the middle of nowhere and cut off our eggrolls."

Roy gulped. "I don't want my eggrolls cut off, Chon!"

"No one does," Chon reassured his friend wryly.

"We'll never get home again," Roy mumbled. "We'll never see Lin and Falling Leaves again."

"Or Pei Pei," Chon said sadly. "I'll never even get to see Meiling."

Lee glanced up at his new friend. "Did you say Meiling?"

"Yes," Chon began. "She –well it's a long story, why do you ask?"

Lee shrugged. "Well, that's odd because Meiling-"

That was as far as he got when the car pulled over. Shannon gave each man a blindfold. "Before we begin, I am going to have to ask you put these on," he said.

"Yeah, why would we want to see how we died?" Carter quipped.

"Let's just say that we don't want you gentlemen remembering where you have been. After you," Shannon said as he led them out the car door.

The four men walked led by their assailants. Carter bumped into Roy. "Watch it, boy!" he said

"It's me redneck," Carter said.

"Sorry," Roy replied. "I thought you were one of these guys."

Shannon led the men into a doorway then undid their blindfolds. They stood in an office, with plush red carpeting and fine Chinese furnishings. "This is from the Ming dynasty," Chon gasped.

"Whoever they are, they're loaded," Roy whistled with approval.

"You could say that, Mr. O'Bannon. I apologize if Shannon frightened you. He has a tendency to overexert himself," said the man at the door. All four men jumped in fright, but turned to see an elderly Chinese man with salt and pepper hair look at them. Another man, a white gray-haired man followed close behind.

"Welcome this is Robert Delvane," the man pointed at his companion. "And I am Xia Lao."

"I know who you are," Lee said warily. "One of the Triad lords."

"I'm surprised you know that much, Inspector Lee," Xia remarked.

"What do you want with us?" Roy asked.

"Patience, Mr. O'Bannon, all in good time," Xia replied.

"How did you know my name?" Roy asked.

"We know many things about you gentlemen," Xia said. "And you are just the men that we need."

"What do you need from us?" Lee asked warily.

"We wish to speak to you gentlemen about exterminating a couple of monsters of ours," Delvane said.

"Monsters?" Carter said. "Hey we ain't no Men in Black."

"Ssh," said Chon, Lee, and Roy.

"No, two monsters that you know rather well," Xia said. "Jennings!"

A rumpled red haired man sauntered in, smoking a cigarette. "Pleased to meet you, Jerry Jennings," he shook their hands. "Reporter and spy." He handed the men a folder. "I'm sure these two will be enlightening."

"Julie Tan," Lee said the same time that Chon said. "Nelson Rathbone!"

Among pictures of the couple, Jennings proudly held up a piece of paper. "This part is the most interesting, wouldn't you agree?"

The four men looked down at the paper. Two names with dates were written on them.

"Nelson Rathbone 1852-1887. Reborn 1887.

Hu Li 1979-2001. Reborn 2001."

"I don't understand," Chon said. "What does this mean?"

"We can do better," Delvane replied. "We will show you."He took out a knife. "Detective Carter, could you do me a favor and stab me in the hand?"

"Say what?" Carter asked.

"Go ahead," Delvane said. "I don't mind."

"You suicidal, man?" Carter asked.

"Just indulge me," the mysterious Englishman replied.

Carter sighed and pierced the man's hand with the blade. "Now come on, you can do better than that," the Englishman taunted. This time, the detective pricked Delvane's hand with the blade's tip. "Weren't you a 'gangsta' once?"

"Hell no," Carter said.

"But you had a prison record as a young man," Delvane said.

"Yeah armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon," Carter noticed that his friends were glancing at him. "Anyway, what the hell difference does that make?"

"Figures that a man with your, um, coloring would need to break the law-"the man began.

"That's it!" Carter interrupted. This time, he shoved the knife into the man's hand.

Delvane held up his hand and calmly removed the knife from the palm. "Should I scream in pain?" he asked. The four men gasped as the wound on the Englishman's hand closed with no blood forming.

Roy stammered, trying to regain some humor in the situation. "Cute trick, I saw the Davenport Brothers do something like that once. That ain't nothing special."

Chon fixed his friend with a look. "How did this happen?" he asked.

"Let me begin at the beginning," Davenport said. "I will go on until the end and then I will stop."

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Lee replied absently. "'The King of Hearts' I believe."

The Englishman nodded. "Very good, Inspector. Though I can never tell the story quite as well as Professor Dodgson, he was an excellent storyteller."

Carter snorted. "Another old guy? Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey," Roy exclaimed. "You and I are about the same age!"

"Yeah in looks," Carter reminded him.

"If you two are finished," Xia said.

"We're finished," Carter and Roy quipped mischievously sounding like two naughty schoolboys.

Chon gave Lee a confused look. "Don't look at me," Lee remarked. "He's your friend."

"Anyway," Delvane said. "As Detective Carter confirmed, I am an 'old guy' as is my colleague here," he motioned to Xia. "Centuries ago, Mr. Delvane and I were part of a group that was once known as the Hellfire Club. He was the son of a lord and I was a servant of the house, though Mr. Delvane had always treated me like a brother."Delvane nodded at the compliment as Xia continued the story. "When we turned to adulthood, we joined the Hellfire Club. The group dabbled in black magic, and early science, then known as alchemy. When combined some of our arts, we were able to give the gift, some would say curse, of immortality to some of our members including Mr. Delvane and myself."

Delvane continued. "By the 19th century, some of our group had split up into splinter factions, such as the Isis-Urania Temple, but that was much later" Carter and Roy were about to laugh at the second name Urania, but Delvane, Xia, and their friends silenced them with a 'don't either of you dare look.' "Many, like the two of us felt we could do more to shape the world around us. So, we formed a group to help the political and business world. We called our group, the Scardo Committee. Many groups both legal and illegal reported to us. "

"Such as the Triad," Lee guessed. "Or the Mafia, The Yakuza,-"

"Yes, yes, "Delvane said getting irritated. "We worked with those groups when we have to. Mostly, we practiced humanitarian and philanthropic duties intending to use our abilities to aid humanity. We often recruited men and women who were very wealthy and very involved with their circles and who shared our ideals. Not everyone was given immortality, in fact by the end we rarely did except for noted exceptions. Long story short, in about 1887, we were badly mistaken when we made that exception."

"Nelson Rathbone," Chon said.

"' Humanitarian and philanthropic duties', "Roy smirked. "Boy, did you get the wrong guy!"

"I did say that we were badly mistaken," Delvane repeated.

Chon shook his head. "But that doesn't make sense, you still had the ability of immortality and you gave it to him. He didn't act like someone who could not die."

"The person has to be at the point of death before we gave it to him. You aided us in that pursuit, Mr. Chon," Xia replied. Chon looked down not knowing that to say. "At first, he did not believe us. It took a former associate of ours to show him the truth. Anyway, Rathbone continued to work for us for a number of years, but eventually the power went to his head."

"What do you mean, eventually," Roy said under his breath.

"He often plotted against us," Xia said. "We thought that we could rein him in, but we were proven wrong."

Delvane nodded. "Our group eventually decided to try again, fixing all of the difficulties that we had with Rathbone. This time we found a young woman whom we could restore life to."

"I know where this story is going," Carter said.

"That woman was Hu Li" Lee said. "Her name is now Julie Tan."

"Her name always was Jun Li Tan," Xia answered. "Hu Li is the nickname. She was in fact married to Ricky Tan."

"What?" Lee couldn't believe it.

"After Tan separated from the police force, he and Miss Chen Jun Li, a former courtesan and the mistress of one of the Triad lords were given to each other in marriage. His marriage was kept a secret from those who knew except us of course," he said. "Unfortunately, though we could have revived her, we needed some assistance to replicate some parts of her, so we had to call a partner, Alfred Brunhaven."

"That's the missing scientist from the pharmaceutical company," Lee said. "The one who set off the blast."

"She probably did it herself," Chon reasoned.

"Unfortunately, something happened that we did not foresee. Hu Li and Rathbone had worked together and were lovers. We don't know whether their affair began during or after her marriage to the rather unfortunate Mr. Tan. But it still remained that, he seduced and partnered with her. They planned on destroying our associates to gain as much power as they can. There are no limits to their ambitions. They plan to kill more."

"What do you need with us?" Roy asked.

Delvane and Xia looked at each other. "We would like you to assist us in capturing Rathbone and Hu Li."

"And send them to you?" Lee asked. "If Hu Li and more than likely Rathbone are involved then they have to be arrested."

Delvane looked at him squarely. "Inspector Lee, you are not as naïve as you seem. What court would charge either of them for the fullest punishment that they deserve?"

Lee looked down. He knew. Rathbone and Hu Li were rich. They would get away with a light sentence if that. "What do you want from us?"

"Just catch them," Xia said. "And bring them to us. We will do the rest."

"What's in it for us?" Carter asked.

"For you and Lee," Xia said. "You will have the captures of a lifetime and I will be glad to give you any information of my other former associates. I no longer wish to be affiliated with them anyway."

"And us?" Chon asked.

Delvane nodded. "One of our numbers sent you here. We can bring you back to your own time."

Roy, Chon, Carter, and Lee were led outside the office to give them a few minutes to "talk it over.""What do you guys think?" Roy asked.

"Well you know my rule," Carter said to Lee.

"Which is?" Chon asked.

"'Always follow the rich white man'," Lee quoted. "So which white man?"

"Well I don't trust either of them," Carter said. "But Rathbone's got my vote."

"I don't trust those two either," Lee said. "But I'm an officer of the law. You are too, Carter. We can't ally with anyone who is affiliated with the Triad and that includes Xia Lao."

Carter shook his head. "Come on, Lee. Sometimes you have to work with these guys to get the real bad guys. "

"That's probably what Ricky said once," Lee reminded him.

"Yeah, but I ain't him," Carter snapped. "Besides, they saved our lives remember? Rathbone and Hu Li's people tried to kill us and they did it before remember?"

"That doesn't make Mr. Delvane and Mr. Xia any more trustworthy," his partner reminded him.

"My gut says that these guys are the one that we can slide with, know what I'm saying'?" Carter replied.

Roy shook his head. "I don't know,"

Chon looked at his friend in surprise. "Roy, how could you say that? You know what Rathbone did!"

"Yeah and believe me I ain't President of the 'Little Lord Sissy' fan club myself," Roy reasoned. "But isn't it convenient that these guys come from nowhere with a story like that? I don't know something tells me that ain't right."

Chon shook his head. The normally calm Chinese man was actually fighting hatred. "No, Roy, what 'ain't right' is that murderer is walking around free receiving no punishment when he deserves it! He kills my father, tries to kill his own family and my sister! He shouldn't walk. Don't you understand? They are the dragons that the old man told us about?"

"So we are two for and two against trusting these two," Lee said pointing at the direction of Xia's office. "Now what?"

"We don't know what these men are capable of," Chon said. "But we do know what Rathbone and Hu Li are capable of and that they are dangerous. We can agree on that at least."

"I say we trail them and their posse," Carter said.

"Sheriffs still round up people for catching crooks?" Roy asked.

"No, Cowboy," Carter glared. "Their people, their boys, their entourage?"

"You lost me, again," Roy answered confused. Carter rolled his eyes.

"Well, whoever they hang out with," Lee said. "Let's find them before they do anything else. We can discuss what to do with them later."

Rathbone and Hu Li entered the hallway. The hotel was deathly quiet. Rathbone used various moves to the desk clerk. Charm and when that didn't work bribery, but she told them that two men named Lee and Carter were staying in room 217. The millionaire and politician crept down the hallway, their guns ready in case they needed to use them. They approached the door of 217 with trepidation.

Rathbone stood on one side of the door and Hu Li on the other. The Englishman nodded as Hu Li quietly knocked on the door. "Su Lin?" she called.

"I'm in here," an exhausted and pained voice replied. Hu Li nodded and opened the door. Su Lin sat on the floor, blood emerging from her injured leg. Her face was pale from the exertion and her eyes tear stained from the grief. Nonetheless when she saw her female employer, she cleared her throat and tried to retain her composure. "I have failed you, madam," she said.

Though inwardly she was saddened by what her bodyguard had been reduced to, Hu Li managed to remain as impassive as ever. "Don't talk like that," she said. "You did well. Can you stand?"

Su Lin shook her head, but Hu Li helped her stand. The older woman leaned on her younger employer for support. Hu Li had known her bodyguard for years, and always looked upon her as a protective older sister. It was odd that she was the one as the protector. Though technically, Hu Li no longer needed a bodyguard, she still appreciated Su Lin's protection and required her services.

Rathbone stood over his assistant, his face showing no emotion but inside was another story. In the many losses that he had endured over the past century, this one cut him the most. Besides being a loyal assistant, John was in many ways like a son to him. He had proved to be a very valuable aid and employee. "Sorry, John," Neil said to Daley's body. He cleared his throat. "We had better leave."

Hu Li nodded, but Su Lin scowled. "You are going to leave John here."

"He would do the same to me," Rathbone said. "And I wouldn't ask him to do any less."

Su Lin looked over at her employer. "Can't either of you revive him?"

"We can't," Hu Li replied. "They gave it to us, but did not tell either of us how it was done."

"One of their little tricks," Rathbone said sourly.

The MP was about to say more when the door opened and a guard appeared. The guard aimed a gun and called into a cell phone. "Mr. Shannon, they are here, Repeat-"

Hu Li moved her assistant onto a bed and kicked the man in the mouth knocking him out. Two other guards appeared aiming their guns when Rathbone took his small gun out from his sleeve and Hu Li took out her gun. The two shot the guards point blank. "Any other questions," Rathbone asked.

Hu Li leaned on her bodyguard as Rathbone shot at the guards coming after them. "Go on, they want you and they will catch you," Su Lin said. "I slow you down. Go, Madam; Sir."

"We had better do what she says," Rathbone told his fiancée. He opened the fire escape as Hu Li shot at another guard. Neil pushed Julie through the door. "Lady first," he said.

"Thank you," Hu Li said before she left knowing that she would never see her servant again.

Su Lin nodded and turned to Rathbone. "You had better look after her. If you don't, I will be reincarnated into something that will kick your ass."

Rathbone gave a tight smile then followed his fiancée out the door. Su Lin waited until they left, then cocked her gun shooting at the guards. She gave a scream as she hobbled to the guards shooting. She felt rage, then nothing.

1. Adam's "time traveling twinkie" is not as one would suspect, Hiro Nakamura. It is in fact Livia Beale, from the short-lived NBC series,_ Journeyman_. Livia and Adam were another of my couples that I could always picture getting together and I am making slow progress on a fanfic that not only undoes some stuff from the third season of_ Heroes_, but also brings up Livia and Adam together.

2. I used both the real ages of Aiden Gillen and Zhang Zhiyi at the time of their movies to determine the ages of the Destructive Duo. So, Rathbone was 35 and Hu Li was 22 (Wow, Rathbone was robbing the cradle! Of course literally. :D)

3. The Davenport Brothers, Ira (1839-1911) and Henry (1841-1877) were two American magicians who caught fire during the Spiritualist movement. They claimed that many of their illusions were caused by spirits.

4. I couldn't resist an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland quote, it's one of my favorite novels and Alice is my favorite female literary character. Of course as many know, Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. (I know Delvane was quite old to remember a children's book so fondly, but pretend for a minute he and Dodgson were old friends and he listened to him tell the story)

5. The group the Hellfire Club was real and existed in Britain and Ireland during the 18th century. The real Hellfire Club did not as far as anyone knew practice black magic, but more of just went wild, had group orgies, wild parties and scoffed at practiced religion. They were one of the first clubs to induct men and women as equals, though.

6. The Isis-Urania Temple, that Roy and Carter find so amusing was the first temple inducted by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded by William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell McGregor Mathers. The group began in 1887-1888, and combined several religious studies, and magic uses. Among their members were W.B. Yeats, Bram Stoker, and most interesting, Aleister Crowley.

7. The Scardo Committee uses the names of the Scardo Society and the Committee of Foreign Affairs, the two conspiracy groups that are found in the excellent novel, _Captains and the Kings_ by Taylor Caldwell.


End file.
